In an Instagram post today, the actress said that when she was seventeen Weinstein came onto her - and that by rejecting him it "undoubtedly" harmed her career.

(Image: REX/Shutterstock)

Alongside a youthful image of the young actress wearing a headscarf, she began: "I was called to meet Harvey Weinstein at the Savoy Hotel when I was 17. I assumed it would be in a conference room which was very common.

"When I arrived, reception told me to go to his room. He opened the door in his bathrobe. I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him."

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She says after declining alcohol and announcing that she had school in the morning she left unscathed - but still uneasy.

She added: "A few years later he asked me if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting. I realized he couldn't remember if he had assaulted me or not.

(Image: PA)

"I had what I thought were boundaries - I said no to him professionally many times over the years - some of which ended up with him screaming at me calling me a c*** and making threats, some of which made him laughingly tell people ['] Oh Kate lives to say no to me.'

"It speaks to the status quo in this business that I was aware that standing up for myself and saying no to things, while it did allow me to feel uncompromised (sic) in myself, undoubtedly harmed my career and was never something I felt supported by anyone other than my family."

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She goes on to say she would "like to applaud the women who have come forward" and that we can use this scandal to make sure it never happens again.

Kate Beckinsale has come forward with her dealings with Weinstein

The actress posted her story

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She says: [To] "create a new paradigm where producers, managers, executives and assistants and everyone who has in the past shrugged and said 'well, that's just Harvey /Mr X/insert name here' will realize that we in numbers can affect real change.

"For every moment like this there have been thousands where a vulnerable person has confided outrageous unprofessional behavior and found they have no recourse, due to an atmosphere of fear that it seems almost everyone has been living in.

(Image: Getty)

"I had a male friend who, based on my experience, warned a young actress who said she was going to dinner with Harvey to be careful. He received a phone call the next day saying he would never work in another Miramax film; the girl was already sleeping with Harvey and had told him that my friend had warned her off."

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Kate concluded her passionate message with: "Let's stop allowing our young women to be sexual cannon fodder, and let's remember that Harvey is an emblem of a system that is sick, and that we have work to do."

Although Kate claims the alleged meeting hampered her career, the actress has gone on to achieve mammoth success in the entertainment industry, becoming a Hollywood leading lady.